It’s a familiar story – nice new phone, lovely camera – but your pictures are still coming out terrible. However, this needn’t be the case - with a little practice you can learn how to get the best out of your camera phone!

Here are Omio’s top tips for better mobile snaps:

1. Learn to use available light 

A grasp of how light affects your subject is a key photographic skill. For instance, a backlit subject will create a silhouette, which can be a nice effect but not great if you’re after detail. On the other hand, shadows can be used to dramatic effect.  Grab a lamp, reposition or move around your subject to get different results.

2. Get up close

Fill that frame! Don’t be afraid to get up close to your subject - you’ll find that the closer you get, the more details you will notice, and with a wide angle lens you can create interesting perspectives.

3. Keep it steady

For clearer pictures make sure that you hold steady whilst taking snaps. Try holding the camera closer to your chest, even with both hands and make a tight ‘A-frame’– this will significantly reduce camera shake.

4. Avoid digital zoom

Zooming in on a subject will amplify even the tiniest of hand movements, leading to blurry images. So bear that in mind when relying on zoom to get into a subject. Digital zoom in particular is a poor substitute for the optical zoom more professional cameras come equipped with.

5. Keep the lens clean

Always keep your lens clean! Having a soft cloth to hand helps. Also, keeping your phone away from your keys and other scratchy things will prevent damage to the lens.

6. Observe camera etiquette

In many cultures taking someone’s picture without permission is a massive no-no! It is always polite to ask someone first if you can take their picture, especially so if you don’t know the person. Besides, you almost always get sually find that you get a better picture with  subject’s co-operation.

7. Post Production

Using your camera’s in built editing and effects can be fun, but using a desktop editing package will yield much better results. Always take shots at a high resolution so that you can keep your options open on how to treat it later. In the same way, always take pictures in colour – you can always make it black & white later, but you can’t make a black and white picture colour.

Well that’s it from us… hope that helps! Once you feel that you’ve got a handle on the basics why not take a look around at some of the online galleries dedicated to mobile phone photography.

Flickr has tons of groups dedicated to pictures taken on mobile phones and is always a great source of inspiration and advice.

Happy Snapping!